Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles

Praised be Jesus Christ! The two Carmelite pilgrims ventured out to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral across town for noon Mass and onto Barangaroo for the Stations of the Cross. What has really been striking me the most about the crowds is how very peaceful and quiet they are – really – they are very calm and quiet. We were walking through the streets with literally 1000’s of others and both of us could converse in a normal tone of voice, enjoy meeting others without asking twice (because of noise level) what they said, and walk without being run over or pushed. All the pilgrims are very respectful and truly enjoying their time – there is a lot of singing and dancing in the streets. Just for a reality check: there is a tunnel we have to walk through in order to get into Barangaroo – and when the young people walk through it, its an open invitation to hoot and sing as loud as they can to get the echoes – they’re normal young people.

We arrived early to our assigned area and enjoyed our lunch…and from here I will let Sister Mary Scholastica share the two graces we received today.

God bless you all. I am praying for you in a special way during these days.

Sister Grace Helena

Greetings everybody! I suppose praised be Jesus Christ would be more fitting! The days have been quite full here and we are trying to be open to all the gifts and graces the Lord is sending us.

1st off…when we first arrived in Barangaroo (the place we were assigned to for the Stations of the Cross) we were placed in an area where you couldn’t see anything at all…not even the screen (though we were content as it was a nice spot). As providence would have it, a large group of British pilgrims found there way next to us. We met their priest chaperones (beautiful priests) and their archbishop who was also accompanying them. The good Archbishop did a bit of exploring and found another area which was much more accomodating and so led his crowd of 90 pilgrims (to whom 2 Carmelite sisters were annexed) to an area where we had the pretty much the best view. 🙂 Isn’t God good!?

Low and behold…as the evening progressed we ran into our “old” friends from Washington. Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church! What a small world! We cannot even begin to tell you all the people we’ve seen here who are friends of the community. Well…the sisters have a very striking habit (white) and so when they came through the sea of people, you can imagine how happy we were to see them. We prayed the Stations of the Cross together and as providence would bless us again, found a nice spot by the harbor to enjoy our dinner. What a lovely evening it was. They send you all their greeings. They are doing well – and look oh so happy.

I’m going to close this up so I can take care of some other things on our end. Australia is an awfully nice place. 🙂 Though I miss you all, it will be a sad time when we leave here. We do plan on coming home. 🙂 Prayers tomorrow – Holy Mass with the Holy Father tomorrow morning and then the pilgrim walk for the vigil. Good night all!